Bears Withdraw Offer To Dent

March 08, 1986|By Gary Reinmuth.

Bears` general manager Jerry Vainisi says the deadline has passed for a response to the team`s latest contract offer to defensive end Richard Dent, and negotiations between the two parties are now on hold.

Vainisi told WGN radio he hasn`t heard from Dent or his agent, Everett Glenn, since the latest offer was made last week. The deadline Vainisi set for a response was Wednesday night.

``As far as I`m concerned, the deal is off,`` said Vainisi. ``This offer is not going to be out there for an unlimited time. They haven`t made a response. So we`re going to stop negotiating for a while. We`ll resume some time, but the offer will be different.``

He said any new offer would be for the same amount of money but would be structured differently.

-- The Denver Broncos will not draft any of the 57 college players who tested positive for drug use at a scouting combine in New Orleans two months ago, Denver coach Dan Reeves said.

``I haven`t drafted anybody that`s shown up positive in the five years I`ve been here,`` said Reeves. ``I think you`re just asking for trouble if you do.``

None of the players with positive test results has been identified. At least one is expected to be a first-round draft choice. The 57 seniors with positive tests represent 16 percent of what the National Football League Scouting Combine considers the nation`s top 50 prospects.

-- ``I`ve watched that cornfield grow out there for three seasons,`` ex-Miami Dolphin running back Mercury Morris said softly. ``I`ve always prayed to God that I wouldn`t see it grow another season.`` Morris was sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy to traffic in and possess cocaine. Thursday, that conviction was reversed with a Florida Supreme Court ruling that entrapment evidence had been ``erroneously excluded`` in the first trial.

``On Nov. 5, 1982, I walked across that walkway (leading to the prison),`` Morris said. ``A guard said to me, `You`re Morris, huh. Don`t worry. They`ll forget about you in two months.`

``They did things to show me that I was nothing special, that I was just another prisoner, a convict,`` he said. ``One time, I spent 24 days in the lockup when an officer lied and said I cursed him out. I have too much control of English to do that.``

His attorneys say Morris may be free within a month, pending the re-trial ordered by the court.

``The way I look at this is, it`s all happened for the good,`` said Morris. ``The positive aspects of growing outweigh the negatives. It was an opportunity to grow or be bitter. Hostile persons create a hostile world. Why should I have animosity?``

McLain to get new prison home

Two days after calling for an investigation into waste and fraud at the Atlanta federal penitentiary, former major league pitcher Denny McLain was moved from the prison, and he will be sent to Terre Haute, Ind.

Prison spokesman William Noonan said McLain was taken to a federal prison in Talladega, Ala., where he is in ``holdover`` status until his transfer to a Terre Haute facility. Noonan refused to say why the transfer was being made.

McLain, who won 31 games for the Detroit Tigers in 1968, is serving a 23- year sentence for drug trafficking, extortion and racketeering. Officials put him into disciplinary segregation last week on charges he possessed unauthorized materials.

McLain said he was being punished because the administration suspected him of leaking a news story about the prison staff buying videotapes of questionable content on the prison account.

Ewing injured again

Patrick Ewing, his right knee aching, says he may be out of the New York Knicks` lineup for a couple of weeks, according to the New York Post. Ewing, who played Thursday night in a 113-111 overtime loss to the Washington Bullets at Landover, Md., reinjured the knee for the second time in a week and the third time in a month.

``My knee is really killing me,`` Ewing told the Post. ``There`s a lot of pain, and I may have to sit out a couple of weeks.`` Knicks` officials said Friday they had been unable to reach the 7-foot rookie center by telephone to check on his situation.

-- Larry Bird`s legend grows.

Thursday morning, Boston Celtics` coach K.C. Jones gathered the team at midcourt, offering to cancel practice if anybody could make a basket from there.

Bird grabbed a ball and took the first shot. Swish. Practice was over at 11:10 a.m. ``Just a buster,`` Bird said. ``A practice-buster. Nobody wants to practice today, anyway. They`re tired.``

-- Ricky Frazier, who led Missouri to three straight Big Eight basketball championships, was one of three men charged with shoplifting Friday at a Sikeston, Mo., discount store. Police said they confiscated several items, including cologne and a cordless telephone. Frazier was named United Press International Big Eight Player of the Year in 1982.

-- Arizona coach Lute Olson, asked to explain why his team, which earned at least a share of the Pac-10 title, was picked to finish eighth this season: ``Maybe Marcos counted the ballots.``

-- La Salle basketball coach Dave ``Lefty`` Ervin resigned Friday. Ervin`s record at the school was 119-87. This year`s team finished at 14-14.

-- Simeon`s Nelison Anderson has been named UPI`s Class AA Player of the Year. The 6-foot-5-inch Anderson, who transferred to Simeon after completing his sophomore year at Prosser and filled the shoes of slain basketball star Ben Wilson, has averaged 20 points this season. Carlyle`s Phil Kunz, a 6-foot- 9-inch center, was named Class A Player of the Year. Kunz, headed for Illinois next fall, averaged 22.1 points, 14.3 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.

Another Macho match

Promoter Don King said unbeaten Hector ``Macho`` Camacho, the World Boxing Council lightweight champion, will defend his crown against former titleholder Edwin Rosario of Puerto Rico June 13 at Madison Square Garden.

Sabre out for season

Buffalo Sabres` left wing Lindy Ruff will be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a broken shoulder.